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February 2007

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Bokor and the beach

Kat: We're back in Phnom Penh after a four day ride down to the coast which was beautiful but hot, hot, hot. As we left the five day Chinese new year holiday was kicking off and there were literally truckloads of people heading for the coast. Maximum capacity of a vehicle is not a concept which has caught on in Cambodia. Buses aren't full until people are sitting on the roof and the doors have to be tied shut. Shared taxi sounds like a comfortable option, doesn't it? Only if you're wafer thin. Six in the back, two in the front passenger seat and two in the driver's seat (only one actually driving) is standard. This joke was in a Phnom Penh newspaper yesterday:
Q: How many Cambodians can you fit in a car?
A: Just one more.

Kep and Kampot were both popular French resorts which were targeted by the Khmer Rouge. In Kep, the grand houses now either stand derelict and bullet-hole ridden or have been totally destroyed. Bokor is the ultimate ghost-town: it was built in 1925 at the top of a mountain so the French could escape the stifling summer heat. In its hey-dey the journey took 30 minutes by car and the small town included a police station, post office and church as well as Bokor Palace. It was the scene of heavy fighting during the 1940s independence war and in the 1970s between the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese; the road and bridges were destroyed and the buildings later stripped. Now the journey takes a bone-rattling 2hrs 30mins in a 4x4, up something more like a river bed than a road.

We joined a tour which had two pick-ups full of baraang (Khmer for French i.e. tourist). After the long journey to the top, a trek to a cliff-edge (that the Khmer Rouge pushed people off to their deaths) then lunch, we only had a short time to explore the palace before heading back down the mountain. We'd just driven off when the truck in front keeled forwards at an angle that suggested all was not well - what looked like a fixable blown tyre turned out to be a somewhat more serious broken axel. For the tour operator it was like that logistical puzzle about getting a fox and chicken across a river. He filled the working truck, negotiated a few free seats in other vehicles and promised another truck would be sent up for the rest of us. Mat and I along with a couple of others volunteered to wait so we could spend more time exploring. As the sun got lower in the sky, we realised that the tour operator was determined to fix the broken truck and there was no replacement. We started preparing ourselves for a night at the ranger station. Just as the sun set they managed to get the wheel back on, but then the headlights didn't work and the bonnet wouldn't open. It took another hour to remove the sidelights, grill and locking mechanism in order to open the bonnet and wire the headlights directly to the battery, by which time it was pitch dark. With one headlight, a front wheel attached in part by string and the remote possibility of nocturnal tigers, we started down the hill. This time the journey took 4hrs with the suspension grounding constantly. When we got back to town all the restaurants had closed, so we just fell into bed absolutely shattered (almost literally, it felt like).

The next day was the final leg of the ride to Sihanoukville, which is surprisingly tacky and seedy for such an undeveloped town. However the beach was almost deserted so we had a great time swimming in the sea and contemplating our navels. Normally we're out in the sun all day long on our bikes and don't get sunburnt, but in Sihanoukville we somehow managed it. Yesterday we caught the bus back to Phnom Penh, to stay with our adopted Belgian family for the last time.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Vietnam fact file

Kat: After a gorgeous cycle around the Mekong delta then a speed boat ride from Chau Doc, we're in Phnom Penh and loving it. First stop off the boat was the deli/chocolate shop run by Griet (who we stayed with in Vientiane) called The Shop. It was the 13th Feb so we watched a steady stream of Cambodian males come into the shop to buy chocolates for Valentine's Day. We're staying at Griet's apartment which is used as storage for her catering company, so we're not short of plates or cutlery. Yesterday we visited the National Museum and Royal Palace; today we went on a cookery class so now we've done one in each country on our trip.

Despite our grumbles about Vietnam, we left on a higher (and much drier) note than we arrived on. Here's a few things we learnt about the Vietnamese:
  1. They wear hats: conical, baseball, berets or woolly - anything apart from motorcycle crash helmets. The women often wear what appear to be pyjama sets.
  2. 10% are Catholic and churches are a common sight. Graves are all over the countryside in random places. The Buddhist monks wear grey and brown rather than the typical orange.
  3. There are no lady boys, either that or they're more discreet than in Thailand and Laos. On the other hand, men often hug each other for no apparent reason.
  4. They drink tea and coffee all the time, and there are about four times as many cafes (serving drinks only) as restaurants.
  5. They play cards and chinese checkers all the time, often while drinking tea or coffee and hugging each other.
  6. Russian was the second language until 1990.
  7. Vietnam has close ties to Scandinavia?! Or so some Danes told us.
  8. They're mad about football, but their national team's not much cop.
  9. The gesture for "no" is the same as our gesture for "maybe" - like a mime of turning on a tap. There are many other gestures which we don't have a clue about.
  10. Many are pathological liars and kleptomaniacs but many more are honest and helpful. The hard part is figuring out which are which!

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Matt's bogus journey

Mat: We first met Boston Matt in Ninh Binh, he was staying in the same hotel as us and we got talking about travelling and Vietnam. Since we were travelling south at roughly the same speed, we bumped into him several more times, and he decided that he'd like to try cycling with us for a few days across the Mekong Delta. We met up in Ho Chi Ming City to discuss the route, and after a couple of hours searching he even managed to rent a half-decent mountain bike for the trip - with gears and everything! We warned him that it wasn't going to be the prettiest days cycling, because the first leg was riding out of HCMC, but he was keen.

The three of us met up at 8am at his hotel and launched ourselves into the rush-hour traffic. Saigon is easily the busiest city I've ever seen, let alone cycled in, so maximum respect to Matt for braving it - especially since he later admitted he hadn't been on a bike for years! The first 30km was really busy, dual-lane highway with buses and trucks thundering past, and we were all ready for a break after two hours.

As the day wore on it got really hot and the traffic continued unabated. We looked for alternative routes but found ourselves on dirt roads heading nowhere, so we ended up cycling the whole 75km on the main highway. Kat & I thought that we weren't really that fit, but as we watched Matt struggling with the heat and the distance, we realised that maybe we have got used to it a little over the last two months. By the time we pulled into My Tho, our stop for the day, the poor guy looked like he'd cycled 750km! Kat and I kept apologising to Matt for such a bad introduction to touring, easily the busiest days' ride we've had on this trip, and we all agreed that a shower and a beer was in order.

But it wasn't to be. Matt's passport was at the Thai embassy waiting for a visa stamp, which isn't a big deal - lots of people are in this position, and a photocopy is always fine. But not at My Tho; according to the guide book it has the most corrupt government and the strictest police in Vietnam, and no-one would let Matt have a room unless he could produce his original passport! The second hotel we tried insisted that he'd have to go to a different city to find a room, so his only option was to get the bus back to HCMC - which left in ten minutes. He rushed to the bus station, and eventually arrived back at his original hotel late that night. We got an email from him today saying that he's still keen to come cycling, but maybe we could stay within a city this time?

It was a real shame, because the next two days riding after he left us have been fantastic; low traffic, beautiful scenery and loads of nice places to stop and have lunch. This morning we took a boat trip out of Can Tho to a floating market (like a regular food market except everyone's in boats, as you might imagine). We're currently in Long Xuyen, about 60km from the Cambodia border, and looking forward to our next country the day after tomorrow.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon

Kat: Towards the end of the third day of our ride down the coast I noticed Mat's back wheel was wobbling and, sure enough, he'd broken a spoke. It's not a show-stopper but it puts more pressure on the other spokes, so the longer you ride the more likely it is that another will break. We limped into Quy Nhon and stopped at the first bike shop we found; after pointing to the broken spoke, they led us down a tiny alley-way to the workshop of a wheel repairer. The man is a bike god. We watched in awe as he removed the gear casette (which involved making a tool to fit), took the axle apart (including three sets of bearings), replaced the spoke and then trued the wheel - all in the course of a single hour. It cost us £1.

Quy Nhon is off the beaten track for most tourists but we found a lovely hostel called Barbara's Backpackers run by a Kiwi (no prizes for guessing her name). The restaurant downstairs served mugs of tea and home-made carrot cake, and our room had a balcony with a sea view. Before dinner we wandered over to a pagoda that Barbara had recommended, and ended up spending the evening with a Buddhist monk who showed us round the pagoda, the rice noodle kitchen and then had dinner with us - vegetarian of course!

30km into the ride the next day, Mat broke another spoke, probably for the same reason as the first: something flying up from the road and hitting the wheel. We stopped at the first town with a bike repair shop but the mechanic obviously wasn't used to bikes with gears. After he pulled out a hammer and chisel we decided to ride the remaining 70km then hop on a train to Nha Trang, which was bound to have experienced bike repairers.

Our hostel in Nha Trang was equally lovely, run by an old Vietnamese couple who fussed over us like mother hens. They pointed us in the direction of a bike shop that repaired Mat's wheel and replaced the front brake pads on both bikes. We spent the next day soaking in a mud bath at the Thap Ba hot springs and visiting the gallery of local photographer Long Than, who has to source all his black and white film materials from outside Vietnam. Yet another overnight train brought us to HCMC, where we've been for the last two nights.

After the horror stories that people told us about the traffic in HCMC we were pleasantly surprised to find that, compared to Hanoi, the streets are wider, there are fewer blaring horns and people actually stop at traffic lights. The War Remnants museum was extremely sobering, with cases full of guns, amazing photographs and jars containing preserved babies that were deformed by chemicals dropped in the Vietnam war. The Reunification Palace has been left untouched since the tanks rolled in on 30th April 1975. Not only does it have fantastic 60s decor but there's a bomb-shelter in the basement complete with map rooms and telephones with flashing lights, a cinema, a casino and on the roof, a dance floor and helipad.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Wind power

Kat: In Hue we were relatively lucky with the weather. Although it looks grey in our pictures, it had been raining for 10 days before we arrived and started again the morning we left. We bought ponchos for the ride which looked daft, but hey, at least everyone else was wearing them. They were surprisingly effective, even though it was like cycling inside a tent. Despite this, when we arrived at our scheduled stop for the day, Lang Co, we were damp and gritty with little prospect of drying out. It's not much fun being at a beach resort in bad weather. The Hai Van pass is the dividing point between the two climates in Vietnam, so we decided to push on. The climb had been hyped up in our cycling guide but after the hills in Laos it was a piece of cake, and we were soon rolling down towards Danang. As soon as we crossed the pass, the fog started to lift and it got noticeably warmer. Unfortunately (but not unsurprisingly) the broken speedometer we had patched together with a pen lid and duct tape stopped working - but after a few days of drying out it's started again!

Hoi An was a real gem and for us, the highlight of Vietnam so far. It's just like Luang Prabang but with honking scooters instead of buddhist monks. There are pretty old buildings, sumptuous bakeries and restaurants and it's along a river. Oh yes, and there are tailors... lots of tailors. Like everyone else, we couldn't resist the lure so we had clothes made and shipped them home. Mat got a suit, trousers, winter coat and shirts while I got two jackets; from opening a catalogue to picking up the finished goods took about 24 hours. What an amazing turnaround! We also went to a cooking class and learnt how to make steamed rice pancakes, which are going to take a lot of practice to perfect.

Yesterday was a serious day of cycling at 120km. After changing our plans several times, we're back on the original route we planned down Highway 1 to Nha Trang. We'd been warned that the traffic was a nightmare but it's not that bad. There are times when it's busy with trucks and coaches but other times we're the only ones on the road. There's a hard shoulder for bikes and scooters, and everyone shouts hello and waves. Best of all, there's a strong tailwind which makes it a sheer joy. I wouldn't want to be doing this ride south to north!